Ford EcoSport facelift launch in 2017 festive season

Ford India is expected to launch the new updated EcoSport in the third quarter of 2017 around the festive season.

When the Ford EcoSport was first launched, the Indian market fell head over heels for it. The EcoSport gathered a huge number of bookings and Ford just couldn’t cope up with the demand. If you wanted an EcoSport when it was launched in 2013, you would have to wait for months before your car could be delivered to you.

The reason for the car’s popularity came from the fact that it was the first compact SUV which was small in size and provided a commanding driving position, both qualities the Indian market demanded for. Seeing the success of the EcoSport globally, many manufacturers have also introduced small hatchback based SUV styled cars with high a driving position.

Soon after, the Mahindra TUV 300 was launched, followed by the much anticipated Maruti Suzuki Brezza which was launched in 2016. While Ford hadn’t showed much love to the EcoSport, the car has become slightly out of date in terms of its feature offering, despite adding some additional features as a midlife update. While the Brezza offers huge amount of personalisation and a touch-screen infotainment system, the EcoSport didn’t. Many other factors like brand image and aftersales services were the reason for the Brezza to outsell the EcoSport exponentially.

To try and not fall behind, Ford has been working hard to shed its image of high maintenance and also recently, threw in some additional features in the EcoSport. In January this year, Ford launched the EcoSport Platinum Edition in the top variants of the diesel and 1.0 EcoBoost powered variants, which addresses the immediate issue. The Platinum Edition in the EcoSport included blacked-out roof, and 17-inch alloy wheels and wider tyres exclusive for this version. Some minor updates to the front and rear bumpers were made as well. The interior remained unchanged, however, an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with satellite navigation and a reversing camera was added.

In November last year, Ford finally revealed the EcoSport facelift and it is bound for India. While many speculative reports claimed that this car with brand new front and rear bumpers, re profiled head lamps and all new interior with Ford Sync 3 infotainment system was to be launched early this year. However, sources close to Ford have confirmed that the new car will be launched in India in the third quarter of 2017, around the festive season.

The current EcoSport is powered by a 1.5-litre TI-VCT petrol engine, and a 1.5-litre TDCI diesel engine and the 1.0-litre EcoBoost. The new EcoSport facelift will still be powered by the same engines and be offer with the same 5-speed manual and 6-seed DCT automatic transmission. However, the engine may receive some tuning updates.